22 U.S.C. § 2370 — Prohibitions against furnishing assistance
submitted 65 years ago by Pub. L. 87-195 to r/title-22-FOREIGN-RELATIONS-AND-INTERCOURSE · 3,189 words · no verdicts yet
This section lists restrictions on United States assistance, including rules for Cuba, debts, expropriation, Communist countries, large projects, loan defaults, diplomatic relations, and countries helping Cuba’s nuclear program. Several lettered provisions are repealed or omitted.
(a) The United States may not assist Cuba’s present government under this chapter. The President may impose a total United States–Cuba trade embargo. Unless the President finds it necessary for United States interests, no Cuban government may receive assistance, a sugar-import quota, or another United States-law benefit until it returns property taken from United States citizens and qualifying entities on or after January 1, 1959, or pays them fair compensation under international-law standards.
(b) Repealed.
(c) No assistance may go to a government owing a United States citizen or person for supplied or ordered goods or services if the creditor exhausted legal remedies including arbitration, the government does not deny or contest the debt, or the debt arises under an unconditional payment guarantee by that government, a predecessor, or a controlled entity, unless the President finds withholding contrary to national security.
(d) A loan under part I of subchapter I may not finance a productive enterprise that will compete with a United States enterprise unless the country agrees to prevent more than 20 percent of annual production from being exported for United States use or consumption during the loan. If it fails, the President may impose import controls. The President may waive these restrictions upon finding the waiver in the national-security interest.
(e)(1) The President must suspend assistance when, after January 1, 1962, a country or its agency or subdivision nationalizes, expropriates, or seizes qualifying United States property; repudiates or nullifies qualifying contracts; or uses discriminatory taxes, exactions, restrictive conditions, or other actions with that effect, and fails within a reasonable time—no more than six months after that action, or, if the matter is referred to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States within that period, no more than 20 days after the Commission’s report is received—to compensate or otherwise meet international-law duties. Suspension continues until appropriate steps are being taken. A waiver requires a presidential finding and certification that it is important to United States national interests, reported immediately to Congress. At the President’s request within 70 days, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission may determine full value and give the President an advisory report within 90 days. It generally may not publish the report without presidential permission. Congress may appropriate money for this work. (2) A United States court may not refuse on the federal act-of-state doctrine to decide the merits under international-law principles when property rights are based on an unlawful post-January 1, 1959 taking. This does not apply when the taking was lawful under international law, to certain good-faith irrevocable letters of credit lasting no more than 180 days, or when the President determines foreign-policy interests require the doctrine and files that position with the court.
(f)(1) No assistance under this chapter, except § 2174(b), may go to a “Communist country.” The President may waive this only after finding and promptly reporting that the assistance is vital to United States security, the country is not controlled by the international Communist conspiracy, and assistance will promote independence from international communism. The term includes, among others, North Korea, China, Cuba, Vietnam, and Tibet. (2) The President may temporarily remove a country from this subsection and referenced provisions after finding and reporting that removal is important to the national interest. Congress says whether the country is fostering genuine democracy and respect for internationally recognized human rights should be considered.
(g) Monetary assistance may not compensate owners for expropriated or nationalized property. If a government uses it that way, assistance stops until it reimburses the United States. The rule does not apply to monetary assistance compensating that country’s nationals under land reform if the President finds the program advances United States national interests.
(h) The President must make rules and procedures to prevent United States aid from promoting or assisting foreign-aid projects or activities of a Communist country contrary to United States interests.
(i) Repealed.
(j) The President must consider ending assistance to a country that permits, or fails to prevent, mob damage or destruction of United States property and fails to prevent recurrence and provide adequate compensation.
(k) Without Congress’s express approval, assistance for a productive enterprise may not exceed $100 million in total, except for specified Egypt projects. Military assistance for a program may not exceed $100 million in total for assistance beginning July 1, 1966, unless presented to Congress during consideration of authorization or appropriations. The President may not waive these limits.
(l) The President must consider denying assistance to a less-developed country that, after December 31, 1966, has not agreed to establish the investment-guaranty protections described in § 2194(a)(1).
(m) Repealed.
(n) Repealed.
(o) In deciding whether to give assistance, consideration must be given to excluding a country that seizes or penalizes a United States fishing vessel for fishing in international waters. This does not apply when an international agreement governs.
(p) Repealed.
(q)(1) No assistance may go to a government more than six months behind on principal or interest for a loan under this chapter unless it pays or the President, after consulting the specified congressional committees, finds assistance in the national interest. (2) No assistance under this chapter, the Peace Corps Act, the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003, the African Development Foundation Act, the BUILD Act of 2018, 22 U.S.C. § 5854, or 22 U.S.C. § 2763 may go to a government more than one year behind on principal or interest on any loan made to that government by the United States unless the President, after consulting those committees, finds assistance in the national interest.
(r) A borrower is not relieved of responsibility to repay principal or interest on a chapter loan outstanding on or after September 19, 1966.
(s) Before development loans, Alliance loans, supporting assistance, or Food for Peace sales, the President must consider the country’s military-budget percentage and the extent it uses foreign exchange or other resources for military equipment. (2) Omitted.
(t) No assistance or Food for Peace sale may be made in or to a country that has severed diplomatic relations with the United States, or from which the United States has severed them, unless relations have resumed and new agreements were negotiated afterward.
(u) Assistance decisions must consider the country’s United Nations dues and obligations. If it is delinquent under Article 19, the President must report its assurance to pay arrears and become current, or explain exceptional economic inability to give that assurance.
(v) Repealed.
(w) Repealed.
(x) Omitted.
(y)(1) Unless (2) applies, the President must withhold from a country’s yearly assistance an amount equal to the nuclear fuel, related assistance, and credits that country or its entity gave Cuba in the prior fiscal year. (2) No withholding is required if Cuba has ratified and complies with the Non-Proliferation or Tlatelolco Treaty, has negotiated and complies with full-scope IAEA safeguards within two years after ratification, and follows internationally accepted nuclear-safety standards. (3) Each year the State Secretary must report to Congress the amount and transfer terms of such fuel, assistance, and credits provided to Cuba in the prior year.
No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter to the present government of Cuba. As an additional means of implementing and carrying into effect the policy of the preceding sentence, the President is authorized to establish and maintain a total embargo upon all trade between the United States and Cuba.
Except as may be deemed necessary by the President in the interest of the United States, no assistance shall be furnished under this chapter to any government of Cuba, nor shall Cuba be entitled to receive any quota authorizing the importation of Cuban sugar into the United States or to receive any other benefit under any law of the United States, until the President determines that such government has taken appropriate steps according to international law standards to return to United States citizens, and to entities not less than 50 per centum beneficially owned by United States citizens, or to provide equitable compensation to such citizens and entities for property taken from such citizens and entities on or after January 1, 1959, by the Government of Cuba.
No assistance shall be provided under this chapter to the government of any country which is indebted to any United States citizen or person for goods or services furnished or ordered where (i) such citizen or person has exhausted available legal remedies, which shall include arbitration, or (ii) the debt is not denied or contested by such government, or (iii) such indebtedness arises under an unconditional guaranty of payment given by such government, or any predecessor government, directly or indirectly, through any controlled entity: Provided, That the President does not find such action contrary to the national security.
No assistance shall be furnished on a loan basis under part I of subchapter I of this chapter for construction or operation of any productive enterprise in any country where such enterprise will compete with United States enterprise unless such country has agreed that it will establish appropriate procedures to prevent the exportation for use or consumption in the United States of more than twenty per centum of the annual production of such facility during the life of the loan. In case of failure to implement such agreement by the other contracting party, the President is authorized to establish necessary import controls to effectuate the agreement. The restrictions imposed by or pursuant to this subsection may be waived by the President where he determines that such waiver is in the national security interest.
The President shall suspend assistance to the government of any country to which assistance is provided under this chapter or any other Act when the government of such country or any government agency or subdivision within such country on or after January 1, 1962—
has nationalized or expropriated or seized ownership or control of property owned by any United States citizen or by any corporation, partnership, or association not less than 50 per centum beneficially owned by United States citizens, or
has taken steps to repudiate or nullify existing contracts or agreements with any United States citizen or any corporation, partnership, or association not less than 50 per centum beneficially owned by United States citizens, or
has imposed or enforced discriminatory taxes or other exactions, or restrictive maintenance or operational conditions, or has taken other actions, which have the effect of nationalizing, expropriating, or otherwise seizing ownership or control of property so owned,
and such country, government agency, or government subdivision fails within a reasonable time (not more than six months after such action, or, in the event of a referral to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States within such period as provided herein, not more than twenty days after the report of the Commission is received) to take appropriate steps, which may include arbitration, to discharge its obligations under international law toward such citizen or entity, including speedy compensation for such property in convertible foreign exchange, equivalent to the full value thereof, as required by international law, or fails to take steps designed to provide relief from such taxes, exactions, or conditions, as the case may be; and such suspension shall continue until the President is satisfied that appropriate steps are being taken, and provisions of this subsection shall not be waived with respect to any country unless the President determines and certifies that such a waiver is important to the national interests of the United States. Such certification shall be reported immediately to Congress.
Upon request of the President (within seventy days after such action referred to in subparagraphs (A), (B), or (C) of this paragraph, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States (established pursuant to Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1954, 68 Stat. 1279) is hereby authorized to evaluate expropriated property, determining the full value of any property nationalized, expropriated, or seized, or subjected to discriminatory or other actions as aforesaid, for purposes of this subsection and to render an advisory report to the President within ninety days after such request. Unless authorized by the President, the Commission shall not publish its advisory report except to the citizen or entity owning such property. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated such amount, to remain available until expended, as may be necessary from time to time to enable the Commission to carry out expeditiously its functions under this subsection.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no court in the United States shall decline on the ground of the federal act of state doctrine to make a determination on the merits giving effect to the principles of international law in a case in which a claim of title or other rights to property is asserted by any party including a foreign state (or a party claiming through such state) based upon (or traced through) a confiscation or other taking after January 1, 1959, by an act of that state in violation of the principles of international law, including the principles of compensation and the other standards set out in this subsection: Provided, That this subparagraph shall not be applicable (1) in any case in which an act of a foreign state is not contrary to international law or with respect to a claim of title or other right to property acquired pursuant to an irrevocable letter of credit of not more than 180 days duration issued in good faith prior to the time of the confiscation or other taking, or (2) in any case with respect to which the President determines that application of the act of state doctrine is required in that particular case by the foreign policy interests of the United States and a suggestion to this effect is filed on his behalf in that case with the court.
No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter, (except section 2174(b) of this title) to any Communist country. This restriction may not be waived pursuant to any authority contained in this chapter unless the President finds and promptly reports to Congress that: (A) such assistance is vital to the security of the United States; (B) the recipient country is not controlled by the international Communist conspiracy; and (C) such assistance will further promote the independence of the recipient country from international communism. For the purposes of this subsection, the phrase “Communist country” includes specifically, but is not limited to, the following countries:
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
People’s Republic of China,
Republic of Cuba,
Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
Tibet,1
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection, the President may remove a country, for such period as the President determines, from the application of this subsection, and other provisions which reference this subsection, if the President determines and reports to the Congress that such action is important to the national interest of the United States. It is the sense of the Congress that when consideration is given to authorizing assistance to a country removed from the application of this subsection, one of the factors to be weighed, among others, is whether the country in question is giving evidence of fostering the establishment of a genuinely democratic system, with respect for internationally recognized human rights.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no monetary assistance shall be made available under this chapter to any government or political subdivision or agency of such government which will be used to compensate owners for expropriated or nationalized property and, upon finding by the President that such assistance has been used by any government for such purpose, no further assistance under this chapter shall be furnished to such government until appropriate reimbursement is made to the United States for sums so diverted. This prohibition shall not apply to monetary assistance made available for use by a government (or a political subdivision or agency of a government) to compensate nationals of that country in accordance with a land reform program, if the President determines that monetary assistance for such land reform program will further the national interests of the United States.
The President shall adopt regulations and establish procedures to insure that United States foreign aid is not used in a manner which, contrary to the best interests of the United States, promotes or assists the foreign aid projects or activities of any country that is a Communist country for purposes of subsection (f).
The President shall consider terminating assistance under this chapter or any other Act to any country which permits, or fails to take adequate measures to prevent, the damage or destruction by mob action of United States property within such country, and fails to take appropriate measures to prevent a recurrence thereof and to provide adequate compensation for such damage or destruction.
Without the express approval of Congress, no assistance shall be furnished under this chapter to any country for construction of any productive enterprise with respect to which the aggregate value of assistance to be furnished by the United States will exceed $100,000,000, except that this sentence does not apply with respect to assistance for construction of any productive enterprise in Egypt which is described in the presentation materials to Congress. Except as otherwise provided in section 2318 of this title, no military assistance shall be furnished to any country under this chapter for carrying out any program, with respect to which the aggregate value of assistance to be furnished beginning July 1, 1966, by the United States will exceed $100,000,000 unless such program has been included in the presentation to the Congress during its consideration of authorizations for appropriations under this chapter or of appropriations pursuant to authorizations contained in this chapter. No provision of this chapter or any other Act shall be construed to authorize the President to waive the provisions of this subsection.
The President shall consider denying assistance under this chapter to the government of any less developed country which, after December 31, 1966, has failed to enter into an agreement with the President to institute the investment guaranty program under section 2194(a)(1) 2 of this title, providing protection against the specific risks of inconvertibility under subparagraph (A), and expropriation or confiscation under subparagraph (B), of such section 2194(a)(1).2
In determining whether or not to furnish assistance under this chapter, consideration shall be given to excluding from such assistance any country which hereafter seizes, or imposes any penalty or sanction against, any United States fishing vessel on account of its fishing activities in international waters. The provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable in any case governed by international agreement to which the United States is a party.
No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter to the government of any country which is in default, during a period in excess of six calendar months, in payment to the United States of principal or interest on any loan made to the government of such country under this chapter, unless the government of such country meets its obligations under the loan or unless the President determines, after consultation with the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, that assistance for such country is in the national interest of the United States.
No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter, the Peace Corps Act [22 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.], the Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 [22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.], the African Development Foundation Act [22 U.S.C. 290h et seq.], the BUILD Act of 2018 [22 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.], section 5854 of this title, or section 2763 of this title to the government of any country which is in default during a period in excess of 1 calendar year in payment to the United States of principal or interest or any loan made to the government of such country by the United States unless the President determines, following consultation with the congressional committees specified in paragraph (1), that assistance for such country is in the national interest of the United States.
No recipient of a loan made under the authority of this chapter, any part of which is outstanding on or after September 19, 1966, shall be relieved of liability for the repayment of any part of the principal of or interest on such loan.
In order to restrain arms races and proliferation of sophisticated weapons, and to ensure that resources intended for economic development are not diverted to military purposes, the President shall take into account before furnishing development loans, Alliance loans or supporting assistance to any country under this chapter, and before making sales under the Food for Peace Act, as amended [7 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.]:
the percentage of the recipient or purchasing country’s budget which is devoted to military purposes; and
the degree to which the recipient or purchasing country is using its foreign exchange or other resources to acquire military equipment.
Omitted.
No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter or any other Act, and no sales shall be made under the Food for Peace Act [7 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.], in or to any country which has severed or hereafter severs diplomatic relations with the United States or with which the United States has severed or hereafter severs diplomatic relations, unless (1) diplomatic relations have been resumed with such country and (2) agreements for the furnishing of such assistance or the making of such sales, as the case may be, have been negotiated and entered into after the resumption of diplomatic relations with such country.
In any decision to provide or continue to provide any program of assistance to any country under this chapter, there shall be taken into account the status of the country with respect to its dues, assessments, and other obligations to the United Nations; and where such country is delinquent with respect to any such obligations for the purposes of the first sentence of Article 19 of the United Nations Charter, the President shall furnish the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a report setting forth the assurance given by the government of the country concerned of paying all of its arrearages and of placing its payments of such obligations on a current basis, or a full explanation of the unusual or exceptional circumstances which render it economically incapable of giving such assurance.
Except as provided in paragraph (2), the President shall withhold from amounts made available under this chapter or any other Act and allocated for a country for a fiscal year an amount equal to the aggregate value of nuclear fuel and related assistance and credits provided by that country, or any entity of that country, to Cuba during the preceding fiscal year.
The requirement to withhold assistance for a country for a fiscal year under paragraph (1) shall not apply if Cuba—
has ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (21 UST 483) or the Treaty of Tlatelelco, and Cuba is in compliance with the requirements of either such Treaty;
has negotiated and is in compliance with full-scope safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency not later than two years after ratification by Cuba of such Treaty; and
incorporates and is in compliance with internationally accepted nuclear safety standards.
The Secretary of State shall prepare and submit to the Congress each year a report containing a description of the amount of nuclear fuel and related assistance and credits provided by any country, or any entity of a country, to Cuba during the preceding year, including the terms of each transfer of such fuel, assistance, or credits.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 87–195, pt. III, § 620, Sept. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 444; Pub. L. 87–565, pt. III, § 301(d), Aug. 1, 1962, 76 Stat. 260; Pub. L. 88–205, pt. III, § 301(e), Dec. 16, 1963, 77 Stat. 386; Pub. L. 88–633, pt. III, § 301(d)–(g), Oct. 7, 1964, 78 Stat. 1013; Pub. L. 89–171, pt. III, § 301(d), Sept. 6, 1965, 79 Stat. 659; Pub. L. 89–583, pt. III, § 301(h), Sept. 19, 1966, 80 Stat. 805, 806; Pub. L. 90–137, pt. III, § 301(f), Nov. 14, 1967, 81 Stat. 459; Pub. L. 90–554, pt. III, § 301(c), Oct. 8, 1968, 82 Stat. 963; Pub. L. 91–175, pt. III, § 303, Dec. 30, 1969, 83 Stat. 820; Pub. L. 92–226, pt. III, § 301, Feb. 7, 1972, 86 Stat. 27; Pub. L. 93–189, § 15, Dec. 17, 1973, 87 Stat. 722; Pub. L. 93–559, §§ 22–24, 44, Dec. 30, 1974, 88 Stat. 1801, 1802, 1813; Pub. L. 94–104, § 2(c)(1), (2), Oct. 6, 1975, 89 Stat. 509; Pub. L. 94–329, title IV, § 403, title VI, § 606, June 30, 1976, 90 Stat. 757, 768; Pub. L. 95–88, title I, § 123(a), (b), Aug. 3, 1977, 91 Stat. 541; Pub. L. 95–92, § 22(d), Aug. 4, 1977, 91 Stat. 624; Pub. L. 95–384, § 13(a), Sept. 26, 1978, 92 Stat. 737; Pub. L. 95–424, title I, §§ 102(g)(2)(F), 115(k), title V, § 502(d)(1), Oct. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 943, 952, 959; Pub. L. 96–533, title II, § 203, Dec. 16, 1980, 94 Stat. 3145; Pub. L. 97–113, title VII, §§ 702, 707, 734(a)(1), (13), (b), Dec. 29, 1981, 95 Stat. 1544, 1546, 1560; Pub. L. 99–83, title XII, §§ 1202, 1203, Aug. 8, 1985, 99 Stat. 276, 277; Pub. L. 102–511, title IX, § 901, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 3355; Pub. L. 103–199, title VII, § 705(3), Dec. 17, 1993, 107 Stat. 2328; Pub. L. 103–306, title V, § 573, Aug. 23, 1994, 108 Stat. 1653; Pub. L. 105–277, div. G, subdiv. B, title XXVIII, § 2810(a), Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–850; Pub. L. 110–246, title III, § 3001(b)(1)(A), (2)(Q), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1820; Pub. L. 117–81, div. E, title LVII, § 5701, Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 2381.)
- 1961Enacted · Pub. L. 87-195 · 75 Stat. 444
- 1962Amended · Pub. L. 87-565 · 76 Stat. 260
- 1963Amended · Pub. L. 88-205 · 77 Stat. 386
- 1964Amended · Pub. L. 88-633 · 78 Stat. 1013
- 1965Amended · Pub. L. 89-171 · 79 Stat. 659
- 1966Amended · Pub. L. 89-583 · 80 Stat. 805, 806
- 1967Amended · Pub. L. 90-137 · 81 Stat. 459
- 1968Amended · Pub. L. 90-554 · 82 Stat. 963
- 1969Amended · Pub. L. 91-175 · 83 Stat. 820
- 1972Amended · Pub. L. 92-226 · 86 Stat. 27
- 1973Amended · Pub. L. 93-189 · 87 Stat. 722
- 1974Amended · Pub. L. 93-559 · 88 Stat. 1801, 1802, 1813
- 1975Amended · Pub. L. 94-104 · 89 Stat. 509
- 1976Amended · Pub. L. 94-329 · 90 Stat. 757, 768
- 1977Amended · Pub. L. 95-88 · 91 Stat. 541
- 1977Amended · Pub. L. 95-92 · 91 Stat. 624
- 1978Amended · Pub. L. 95-384 · 92 Stat. 737
- 1978Amended · Pub. L. 95-424 · 92 Stat. 943, 952, 959
- 1980Amended · Pub. L. 96-533 · 94 Stat. 3145
- 1981Amended · Pub. L. 97-113 · 95 Stat. 1544, 1546, 1560
- 1985Amended · Pub. L. 99-83 · 99 Stat. 276, 277
- 1992Amended · Pub. L. 102-511 · 106 Stat. 3355
- 1993Amended · Pub. L. 103-199 · 107 Stat. 2328
- 1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-306 · 108 Stat. 1653
- 1998Amended · Pub. L. 105-277 · 112 Stat. 2681
- 2008Amended · Pub. L. 110-246 · 122 Stat. 1820
- 2021Amended · Pub. L. 117-81 · 135 Stat. 2381
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 87-195 on 1961-09-04.
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